ACC preseason Player of the Year C.J. Leslie and coach Mark Gottfried share a hug after a win last season

CHARLOTTE – Mark Gottfried spent the majority of his summer dancing around his team’s high expectations with the dexterity of a political candidate trying not to alienate any uncommitted independent voters.

Wednesday, he could sidestep the issue no longer.

Confirming a vote of Gottfried’s fellow coaches earlier in the week, members of the ACC media officially established his N.C. State basketball team as the league’s preseason favorite in balloting at the ACC’s annual Operation Basketball event.

It’s the first time since 1975 that the Wolfpack has been picked to win the league – an occurrence that should both delight and scare the bejesus out of a fan base conditioned to hope for the best, but expect the worst.

If that wasn’t pressure enough, the media raised the bar even higher by selecting junior forward C.J. Leslie as the ACC’s preseason Player of the Year and Rodney Purvis as its Rookie of the Year.

Now all State has to do is go out and live up to the hype, if that’s possible given the fact that anything less than a league title can now be considered a disappointment.

Mark Gottfried's Wolfpack was picked to win the ACC for the first time since 1989

“It’s flattering,” Gottfried said in an attempt to embrace the reality of his team’s new frontrunner status. “I think our players should feel good about it. … But at the same time, our guys understand that we’ve got four guys who have played a lot of minutes. They get it. They understand that’s not worth a hill of beans now.

“It’s how we finish, not where we’re picked at the beginning. We’re going to play games in January and February, and at that time none of us will care about who was picked where in October.”

Regardless of how those meaningful games turn out, the mere fact that the Wolfpack was picked to finish so high is a major step forward for a program that has spent the past two decades in a perpetual state of rebuilding.

As recently as last year at this time, Gottfried was still better known as a former ESPN analyst trying to win over a skeptical fan base with a team that was picked to finish eighth in the league.

Just 12 months later, with a roster enhanced by three McDonald’s All-Americas and more top recruits on the way, he’s the coach of a team that has suddenly leapfrogged traditional ACC frontrunners North Carolina and Duke in virtually every poll that’s been taken both in and out of the league’s geographic footprint.

Paper victories such as that, however, are only half the battle. And the easy half, at that.

Because as Gottfried is quick to point out, State has yet to prove it can sustain the success of last season’s Sweet 16 run over the course of an entire season.

“I think we’re taking steps along the way,” Gottfried said. “Our finish was good last year. We recruited some good players, that’s been a great step forward for us.

“But we haven’t beaten North Carolina and Duke yet. That needs to be a step along the way and they’re not rolling over for us. I think we’re taking the right steps and moving in a good direction, but the process, for me, is still real young.”

That could change in a hurry thanks to a lineup that includes four returning starters – including preseason All-ACC picks Leslie and point guard Lorenzo Brown – along with one of the nation’s most decorated recruiting classes.

But even if the transformation on the court isn’t completed this year as predicted, it’s undeniable that the perception of the program has already changed for the better.

“Just the idea of going to N.C. State is a lot different than when I had my idea of going to N.C. State,” senior center Richard Howell said.

It’s an idea enhanced by the promise of great things to come rather than the memory of greatness from the distant past.

“Since I got here, I’ve probably seen the video of the dude tipping the ball in and them winning the championship about a million times,” Howell said of Lorenzo Charles’ iconic dunk in the 1983 national championship game. “That’s something we’re tired of talking about. Every year, it’s like ‘the ’83 championship, the ’83 championship.’ We’re trying to put up a new banner.”

The consensus, at least the one determined at the ballot box, is that the goal is well within State’s reach. All the Wolfpack has to do now is go out and earn it on the court.